Twitter Unveils Revamped Homepage

Following reports that Twitter will soon launch a revamped homepage for signed-out or new users, with the hopes to engage them and make them join the micro-blogging network, the firm on Wednesday confirmed the news.

The new revamped Twitter.com homepage has begun rolling out to users in the US, and will be made available in other regions worldwide "over time". The company has been testing the new homepage for quite some time, with reports as far back as February revealing the new interface as seen by select users.

Twitter's overhauled homepage for signed-out or new users features three columns, with a header that welcomes users, and invites them to "see what's happening right now". The extreme left column of the Twitter login/ sign-up homepage includes categories like News, Sports, Entertainment, Technology S science, Lifestyle and more, divided into further sub-categories.

The central column is of clickable thumbnail images with titles like "Business news, people, & sites", "Politicians, pundits, & parties", "Country artists", "TV shows & stars", and more. Users can click these, to be taken to another login/ sign-up page highlighting tweets from that category. The third/ right-side column is for log-in or sign-up.

Announcing the revamped Twitter.com homepage in a blog post, the company said that millions of users visit the site every month to keep up with live events and breaking news, and while those who are logged-in get the "full experience", there millions who visit without logging in. The new homepage is meant for these users, who "still want to know what's happening" without signing up. The previous homepage design for signed-out users just featured a slideshow showcasing a random tweet along with a photo, along with the login or sign-up options.

The company explains the philosophy behind new homepage in the blog post.

"Starting today, when you go to the twitter.com homepage, you'll find interesting topics to explore like Politics, Pop Artists and even Cute Animals. Click on the topic and you'll see a timeline of Tweets from some of the most popular accounts in that topic. It's rich real-time content, just like the Twitter experience for users who log in... As with everything we build, we'll be making lots of improvements along the way so that Twitter's front page continues to be informative, entertaining and relevant to everyone. Stay tuned."